15

General Electric, the very model of an integrated, multidivisional conglomerate with an advanced management system, ventured into the computer business in the late 1950s. In 1964, it took over the French company Bul, a leading European manufacturer of information-processing machines. Bul had a dynamic educational policy, with an internal school to train its technical and commercial manpower as wel as its clients. Its integration into the American multinational resulted in a wave of changes, as General Electric not only introduced novel information technologies, but also spread its highly formalized managerial procedures throughout its European subsidiaries. In turn, Bul contributed by transferring these techniques and bodies of knowledge to other organizations.